The Democratic Republic of Congo is famous in the UK as an answer you can give to almost any geography question on the TV quiz Pointless: it is in Africa, it is landlocked, it is a former Belgian colony, the people speak French as their second language, it lies on the border between Christianity and Islam, it has somehow got itself caught up in a territorial land grab with Rwanda.
Other than roughly where it is, I suspect us Europeans are a bit vague about the DRC, despite the horrors carried out there by King Leopold of the Belgians, who regarded it as his personal fiefdom and is said to have salted away $1 billion in gold and diamonds his thugs (troops) forced the local people to dig out.
I have no more idea than anyone else what's going on in the DRC right now. I heard tonight that one of its main cities, Goma, has just 'fallen', though I'm not sure who to. It looks as if almost a million people are at the mercy of the invaders.
But no - wait! The people of Goma should be at the mercy of no one. UN troops have been in the DRC for a decade, apparently deployed there to protect the local population. Where have they been while the fighting has been going on? What have they done to protect the populace?
This is one of many forgotten wars. Protest if you can. The people of Africa - especially people who have been slaves of colonists - deserve better.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jan/23/congo.international
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo
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